Hotels Lure Neighborhood Residents With Perks, No Check-In Required

More resorts are drawing locals to enjoy luxury amenities, but without having to stay overnight.

Hotels are finding a lucrative business getting local residents to use the expensive spas, golf courses and other amenities that they've spent millions of dollars adding to their properties. Andrea Petersen has details on Lunch Break. Photo: Lori Eanes for The Wall Street Journal.

At the Rosewood Sand Hill resort, Anne Leahy Jones in a recent week swam in the pool, had an al fresco lunch, took yoga and Pilates classes in the fitness center and lounged in the spa's hot tub. Then she drove eight minutes to her home.

"I do have a swimming pool in my backyard, but no one comes through and offers me water and cleans my lounge chair," says Ms. Jones, a 62-year-old retired marketing executive. Ms. Jones says she visits the 121-room hotel in Menlo Park, Calif., about five times a week. She uses the Rosewood's pool more than her own. "It is a treat," she says.

Ms. Jones is one of Rosewood's 75 "lifestyle members," a $1,000-a-month club for locals ($1,500 for couples) that gives them access to the hotel's gym, spa and pool, discounts on meals and drinks and other perks.

A Hotel Lifestyle Without the Overnight Stay

An increasing number of hotels are launching or expanding efforts to draw people who live in surrounding communities. Shown, a view from the restaurant at the Rosewood Sand Hill hotel in Menlo Park, Calif., overlooking the pool. Lori Eanes for The Wall Street Journal

An increasing number of hotels are launching or expanding efforts to draw people who live in the surrounding community. The moves reflect a discomfiting reality. To be competitive, upscale hotels have had to offer robust fitness centers and glamorous pools, spas and restaurants. But they often can't be filled with overnight guests alone. "We build these beautiful pools and there will be two people in them," says
Peter C. Borer,
the chief operating officer of Peninsula Hotels, which offers memberships for locals at six of its nine properties.

At the Rosewood Sand Hill, 90% of the business at its restaurants and spa is from nearby residents, says managing director
Michael Casey.
At the Hilton Short Hills in New Jersey, which launched spa- and health-club-membership programs in 2011, about 85% of spa visits are from local residents, says Beth Scott, vice president of product development at Hilton Worldwide Inc.

Although hotel occupancy rates and room prices have rebounded since the economic downturn, other revenues, particularly from meetings, restaurants and other services, such as spa, golf and retail, are still depressed, says Robert Mandelbaum, director of research information services at PKF Hospitality Research. While room revenue rose 6% in 2012 from the previous year, food-and-beverage revenue, which includes restaurant, minibar, banquet and other services, was up only 2.5%, according to PKF data from a survey of 6,500 U.S. hotels. Restaurant revenue alone was about 26% lower in 2012 than it was in 2007.

Hotels are also looking for ways to lure area residents for work. Instead of gathering at a neighborhood
Starbucks
,
they can go to a hotel and find meeting spaces.
Marriott International
Inc.
is testing a "Workspace on Demand" program that lets anyone go online to reserve meeting rooms, desks in the business center or even spots in the lobby. "We've got these underutilized spaces in the hotel. How do you capture this mobile worker, a person doing a job interview?," says Matthew Carroll, vice president, brand management for Marriott Hotels. The program, a partnership with LiquidSpace, a company that matches workers with unused office space, is currently in about 30 hotels. Spaces range from a 10-person meeting room at the Bethesda Marriott in Maryland for $75 an hour to a free spot at the bar at the Marriott Fremont Silicon Valley in Fremont, Calif. The hope is that people working will spend money on food and drinks, too, Mr. Carroll says.

Marriott Hotels and the Redmond Marriott Town Center in Redmond, Wash., have partnered with office-furniture company
Steelcase
to revamp 4,500 square feet of meeting space into Workspring, a sleek, high-tech area with room for up to 75 workers in five "studios" and common space. The price, $189 a person for a full day, includes Wi-Fi, office supplies, the services of a "host" and food and drinks. Before the change, meeting spaces had occupancy rates of just 20% to 30%, says general manager Daniel Angellar.

Now, Workspring has brought in small meetings from nearby
Microsoft
and local law offices, among others. "The food is much better than Microsoft catering," says Erin Dickerson, executive assistant to Microsoft chief information officer
Jim DuBois,
who has moved several 20-person team meetings to Workspring. "We had lobster on Monday," she said last week.

Jeff Peterson, director of sales and marketing at the Surfcomber in Miami Beach, Fla., says attracting local residents for a day could lead to bigger-ticket bookings. "You never know who is in your backyard. It could be a potential bride, a group with a meeting," he says. Last month, the hotel, part of the Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, launched a package for locals: For $50 a day plus $43 a person (five-person minimum), people can rent a pool cabana and have a three-course meal with a bottle of prosecco or pitcher of sangria.

Hotel memberships are popular among people with second homes or seasonal rentals in vacation spots who still want the perks of a resort or country club. The Wequassett Resort and Golf Club in Chatham, Mass., on Cape Cod, has about 60 families who each pay $5,755 a year plus a $12,000 initiation fee to use the tennis courts, pool, fitness center and lavish pirate-themed children's center. The membership program has a wait-list, says managing partner Mark J. Novota. The members, he says, are particularly important in the off-season and boost attendance during slow times in the restaurant and children's program.

Sometimes hotels' efforts to draw residents from surrounding communities can backfire. The Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok tried offering a fitness-center membership to local companies but largely yanked it after overnight guests complained that the gym was too crowded. "Obviously our guests come first," said general manager Amanda Hyndman in an email.

Last summer, the new Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore allowed locals to use its elegant waterfront infinity pool for $75 a day ($50 for children). It was very busy and staff were overwhelmed, says general manager Julien Carralero. People "would bring five kids. They'd bring their kids and the neighbor's kids," he says. This summer, the hotel no longer offers day passes. Instead, memberships for area residents, which give access to the fitness center, spa and pool, and certain discounts, now cost $3,500 a year, plus a $1,000 enrollment fee.

One new member is Philippe Lespagnol, a 46-year-old assistant general manager for a property-management firm, whose apartment is across the street from the Four Seasons. He says he and his partner are usually at the hotel five days a week to use the fitness center, have dinner at the restaurant or get treatments at the spa. "It is like you're on vacation. You completely forget you are in Baltimore," he says.

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